Zheng Qinwen topples Bianca Andreescu to reach first WTA 1000 quarter final
- Zheng Qinwen kept her breakthrough year on track, quieting the home crowd on Centre Court with a 7-5 5-7 6-2 win over Canada’s Bianca Andreescu
- The 19-year-old, who reached the fourth round at Roland-Garros earlier this year, next faces former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova
Surging Chinese teen Zheng Qinwen made the first WTA 1000 quarter final of her career as she overcame Canadian hopeful Bianca Andreescu at the National Bank Open.
The 19-year-old Zheng ousted Andreescu, the last remaining Canadian in the tournament, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2. Zheng had 28 winners to Andreescu’s 16 as the teenager ended Andreescu’s eight-match winning streak in her backyard of Toronto.
Zheng, who continues to make waves in her breakthrough season, will face former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova in the quarter finals early Saturday morning.
Zheng, who started the season ranked No 143 cracked the Top 50 earlier this year, bested 2019 champion and hometown hope Andreescu in just under three hours.
Pliskova, last year’s National Bank Open runner-up prevailed in a topsy-turvy two-and-a-half-hour showdown with Maria Sakkari.
Pliskova had not faced a top 10 player this year before this match, but she gritted her way to victory over World No 4 Sakkari. Despite the lengthy gap since her last match against a player from the topmost echelon, Pliskova has now won her last four matches against top 5 opposition.
Pliskova did not serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set, and Sakkari did not convert two set points at 6-5 either. Pliskova grabbed three match points in the second-set tiebreak, but Sakkari withstood that trio, and she converted her fourth set point to level the clash.
